Saks Off 5th, the outlet store of the Saks Fifth Avenue, is reopening Thursday in downtown Minneapolis, just across the street from a location it closed last year.
"We're really excited to be back," said Jonathan Greller, president of Saks Off 5th stores. "Minneapolis is very much part of our growth strategy."
The decision to close the Minneapolis store was made before Saks was acquired by Hudson's Bay Co., Greller said. After the 2013 purchase, Hudson's Bay decided to keep the Saks brand in Minnesota. But by that time, it was too late to retain the space it had in Gaviidae Common. It has now moved into two floors of City Center, just across Nicollet Mall, that was formerly occupied by Office Depot.
The 40,000-square-foot space will be divided into 24,000 square feet on the street level and 16,000 square feet on the skyway level. That is a bit larger than the 28,000-square-foot Saks Off 5th outpost that anchors Twin Cities Premium Outlets in Eagan. The downtown location will include the same selection of women's, men's and kids apparel and accessories as Eagan, but it will have a larger selection of shoes and handbags.
Keeping stores downtown has been challenging for many U.S. cities. Minneapolis lost Saks' full-line store and Neiman Marcus, as well as several high-profile restaurants. And Gap left the IDS Center last year.
Rumors have circulated since last year that Nordstrom Rack, which has long been eyeing a downtown location, would create a two-level store at IDS, using the former Gap space on the first floor and the former TJ Maxx space, which hasn't been used since 2004, in the lower level.
Deb Kolar, general manager of operations at IDS Center, said the building is "in the middle of negotiating with a great national retailer," though she wouldn't identify it by name.
In a visit to the Twin Cities last fall, Blake Nordstrom, co-president of Nordstrom, said "Downtown Minneapolis is a very attractive location with a strong customer base." The Seattle-based company plans to add more than 100 Nordstrom Rack stores in the next four years.